Snowed In
by Thoughtfulll
Summary: Four years after Darkness of Dragons, Winter has moved on from his feeling for Moon, and has carried on with his life. He now runs sanctuary for scavengers with a dedicated crew of researchers and official funding. However, when Moon enters his life again through an unexpected series of events, he is forced to face truths and realizations that he'd rather forget. T for language.
1. Chapter 1

_**Four years after the events of Darkness of Dragons and The reign of Queen Wasp...**_

* * *

Wind howled and as snow swirled in every direction, a lone NightWing fought her way through the sky.

 _Shit, why is the Ice Kingdom so... cold?_ Moonwatcher beat her wings furiously against the gale, but the icy wind carried her even further away from her destination. She gave up and dove towards the ground, but was blown back up into the air.

 _Come on, Moon!_ She urged herself. _You didn't beat Darkstalker to get bested by a little wind!_ She tried once again and landed, folding her wings so as to not be carried away again. _I need to find shelter._ Moon scanned the area, but saw nothing. She drew her wings up around her and shivered, remembering tales of dragons who had frozen to death.

 _There._ She jerked her head around, towards a small pulse of thought. _There are dragons in that direction._ Squinting into the distance, she saw tiny specks of light emanating from the far-away shape of a strange building. She pushed her head into the wind and began the long trudge to safety.

* * *

Winter studied the two scavengers with a look of deep and inspired curiosity, ignoring the howl of the wind outside. His team had known the storm was coming. They had more than enough supplies to get them through the next few weeks.

He had once thought that his research was a hopeless endeavour. He had nearly given up numerous times. It had been a few years since he had published his first findings in the scavengers' intelligence and similarities to a dragon's behaviour, sometimes with help from Hailstorm, Kinkajou and a SkyWing friend he had made on the way to his original Sanctuary named Cloud. Since then, he had received official funding from numerous sources to continue his research and he now had a sizeable team and a great research centre. Though they sometimes bumped heads a little bit, they got along great, for the most part.

The scavengers in question seemed as though they were having an argument. They were waving their cute little appendages in the air and squeaking furiously. Winter watched with interest from behind the glass. This was their normal viewing place, though there was another with tiny holes that could be used to secretly watch the scavengers. There were also several minor, more private scavenger enclosures for specific studies. At first, they had been afraid of the dragons watching in the window, but they now acted as though Winter and his crew simply didn't exist.

The argument, or at least whatever the scavengers were having that LOOKED like an argument, seemed to be heating up. He studied each of the scavengers in turn. The first was one of the original scavengers he had been studying, back when he had nobody but himself to rely on. She had never really been scared of him or the others, and sometimes when she saw him in the window, her mouth would turn up, almost like a smile, and she would do what almost looked like a wave with her tiny arm. The other was one of the newer scavengers, another female. She was very thoughtful and seemed to almost think outside the box. So far, she had solved a lot of the puzzles and tasks that had been part of his studies. However, the most interesting thing about her were her weird fur coverings about her, which Winter had begun to call "clothes". She had taken the default white ones that each scavenger had been given and dyed them to be a purple, almost black colour with berries. The colour reminded him of something... but he could never quite put his talon on it.

Both were gesturing wildly and squeaking frantically, and then the one in black hung her head and said something quietly. They conversed for a while like this, contempt hinting in the white-clad one's voice, then the one in black walked away. Then it clicked. The one in black reminded him of Moon.

He closed his notebook and set it down. He had moved on from Moon. He had felt terrible at first, crushed by her answer to his confession. He now only felt a pang of regret. Nothing more. He had come to terms with his past and had accepted that she was with Qibli, that she was happy, and that he could be happy without her. He thought briefly of that SkyWing who delivered supplies to their remote location. It was a long journey and she often spent the nights there before leaving the next day. He had stayed up late many nights talking to her, much to Cloud's teasing. He was happy with the way things were now.

He was free of his anger, free of all the mistakes he had made. Free of his feelings for Moon, and the things he had given up for her. He reopened his book. He was finally free.

* * *

Moon knocked frantically on the door, and to her relief, heard bustling thoughts approach from the inside.

 _Moons, who in Phyrria is knocking at the door at this hour?_ Thoughts and words ran through the approaching dragoness' head. The door opened and a gigantic RainWing peered out, closing one eye and tilting her head against the wind.

"Goodness, dear, are you hurt? Come inside." Moon garbled out a weak thank-you as she was practically dragged inside by the larger female.

The RainWing, after asking Moon what she considered to be far too many questions, left her in an empty guest room to sleep. Moon reflected on the day, lying in bed. For the first time she could think without those busy thoughts crowding or the recessive wind piercing her brain. She reflected on her predicament. _I've blown way off course,_ she thought. _Fuck, I was already late._ _I need to get back on track. I'll leave first thing tomorrow._

* * *

She found herself wondering what the purpose of the building was. Judging by the route she had taken to get to this room, it was quite large and probably held many dragons. The last thought she had before drifting off was that she wished she had read the sign at the door.

"Uh, boss?"

Winter looked up from his notebook at the RainWing hybrid that stood before him. Her mother worked as a staff member, a housekeeper in the farthest stretch of the word, keeping the Sanctuary up and running and the rest of the team focused and happy. They both lived and worked here, but Winter had never known much about her father, except that he was a MudWing. He glanced over at the clock and winced, seeing that it was well past midnight. He then turned his attention back to the blue-almost-black and brown scales of her spry face.

"Yes, Aven?"

"Mom wanted me to tell you, a dragon was lost in the storm and came here. On a journey, I think, probably blown north. Mom put her up in the guest bedroom."

"And why are you telling me this?" Winter inwardly cringed. That had sounded meaner than he had meant it to be, as if she were wasting his time. Maybe he wasn't as free from his past as he would have liked to think. He still hurt people without meaning to. Aven, however, didn't seem to notice.

"I just thought you would know why there's a totally new dragon at the breakfast table." She glanced at the clock. "Also, you should probably get some sleep."

"Wouldn't that make you a hypocrite? You're also awake."

She grinned. "Goodnight, Winter."

"And don't call me 'boss'!"

He shut his notebook as she left the room, smirking.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

Hello friends!

This is my first-ever chapter of this story, and indeed on this whole FanFiction place( ? Just FanFic?) and I gotta say, I'm pretty exited. I hope I captured the canon characters' personalities correctly? If I didn't, please do tell me!

Don't get me wrong, I like MoonBli... but I also like WinterWatcher.

Also I'm not sure how often I'm going to update this, but each new chapter will be between 1 to 2 weeks of each other. (The first few chapters might be a bit slower because I'm still figuring out how the plot will go, but I've got a basic idea already don't worry) Also, any OCs you want used as other crew members? I have a cast already so I probably won't need any, but I might want to use one! (Of course, not many will read this between now and the next chapter so I probably won't get any, especially since I just joined)

I don't own Wings of Fire. Any criticism or things I got wrong with canon events or personalities? Please let me know.

Oh, ya. Happy Halloween!

Thoughtful out ;)


	2. Chapter 2

Moon awoke to clashing thoughts.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes. She yawned, and noted that the wind from outside had subsided. She glanced at a clock and her eyes widened. Fuck, I overslept! I need to go!

She scrabbled with the door and dashed into the hallway, before pausing and realizing that she had absolutely no clue which way she should go. She looked down each hall one at a time. The first way had a little table and mirror at the end; a dead end, albeit a quaint one. The other side led to a more promising-looking staircase downwards. The angry thoughts were also coming from that way. She began walking hurriedly, but not frantically, towards it.

As she neared the bottom of the stairs, she realized that the loud, angry thoughts were coming from only one dragon. There were also a few other minds, but they were being all but drowned out. Both by the thoughts and the shouting match that she was approaching.

"Just because there's a snowstorm doesn't mean you can skip work like that!"

"I already TOLD you, I can finish it during the break!"

"That's exactly the problem! It's a BREAK, not an excuse to not do any work!"

"That is literally the DEFINITION of a break!"

Moon walked into a larger room with a big circular table and a few other tables. She looked around. On the two sides of the round table, a SkyWing and a HiveWing stood and shouted at each other. The angry thoughts were emanating from the ruby-red SkyWing and the HiveWing, though just as angry-looking, had a strange invisible shield on his thoughts. He's wearing skyfire, she realized, seeing a tiny gold band around his horn inlaid with the familiar black rocks.

She observed the rest of the dragons around the room. A very amused-looking RainWing hybrid sat watching the two at each other's throats, a hint of a smile playing across her features. Next to her sat a half-asleep, bespectacled SandWing eating cereal. A little ways away from them, at the smallest table, a pale blue and deep green SeaWing was writing on a scroll with a huge quill. He seemed to be blocking out everything around him, and Moon got the impression that he didn't associate much with the others. Finally, an adult SilkWing and another SkyWing, both females, sat close together as the latter finished up her meal.

She turned her attention back to the pair who argued in the middle, who were now debating the definition of a break and whether it entailed skipping work.

"Um, hello?"

All the dragons in the room looked up and held her gaze, save the sleepy SandWing who just glanced at her before returning to her cereal, and the shy SeaWing, who didn't even look up.

"Hey, you must be the NightWing that Rose was talking about," said the SkyWing, his anger forgotten for the moment. "I'm Cloud. And this is-"

"I can introduce mySELF, thank you very much," said the HiveWing. "Hi. I'm Mantis." He offered a talon and Moon shook it, examining his double wings and imagining what he must be thinking.

The rest of the dragons' names were Aven, the RainWing and MudWing hybrid, Olivia, the SandWing, and though he didn't speak to her, Moon was told that the SeaWing's name was Tide. The SilkWing's was Comet, and the other SkyWing was named Ash.

"Okayyy, now you know all our names, so what's your name? The dragon who asked was Aven, if Moon remembered correctly. She tried to block out Aven's thoughts. Please let it be a cool NightWing name! And one that's easy to say! Battlewinner is way too hard to say, and that was their queen. Ick, imagine having a name like Futurespeaker! Or Destinyspeaker! That's WAYY too many syllables!

Moon attempted to block out the hybrid's thoughts as she said: "Moonwatcher. My name is Moonwatcher. Call me Moon, though," she added, thinking of Aven's train of thought.

The hybrid nodded. "Moon…" She said, playing the name around her mouth. "I'm sure we'll be great friends!" She grinned.

Moon gave a wan smile back. "I guess we will," she said. If I'm here for long, which I won't be. I need to go. Come on, Moon get to the point!"

"Oh, ya, um..-" Moon attempted to ask where the edit was, but Olive had spoken a little bit faster and her words were lost in the SandWing's.

"Hang on, are those… silver scales?"

She had come right beside Moon without her noticing and was examining the silver scales behind her eyes. Moon tilted her head so that she could see them better, and gave a slight nod of affirmation. Olive then turned to face Aven.

"Do you realize what this means?"

Aven shook her head.

"She's a mind reader."

"Really? That's so cool!"

Winter sat up from his chair and yawned. He looked down and saw his notebook. Crap, I fell asleep, he thought as he looked down on the book he had been using as a pillow. Oh well, at least I didn't drool on my book. He got up and stretched. I wonder who that dragon Aven told me about is. I guess I'll find out. They'll be here quite a while, because of the snow. He frowned. I hope they're not annoying.

Winter began to leave when he noticed a plate of food, set on the small table beside the door. He smirked and picked it up, taking a bite from a croissant as he opened the door.

He strode from the viewing room and down in the direction of his own rooms, meaning to drop his notebook off there, and then continue on to the dining room and eat with his crew. As he opened the door to his quarters and stepped inside and set his bag down, he yawned again and wondered why he had taken his big bag out the night before. There was a small satchel he usually wore at all times, or at least kept close at hand, as opposed to his big bag which was usually quite heavy, as it carried all his possessions, save those here in his room or around the Sanctuary.

He turned to leave, but stopped at the door. Why HAD he taken it out? It had remained untouched in the corner for almost three years, ever since he had placed the bracelet Hailstorm had given him as a gift, the one inlaid with the same piece of skyfire that turtle had given him years earlier. He would have been flattered and thankful but, just looking at the uneven surface of the stone had given him painful memories so he had hidden it from himself. So why bring it out now? He wasn't worried about flashbacks of Moon, he was past that now. But he had really never needed anything from it.

He headed back inside and opened the bag. He popped the last bite of his croissant into his mouth and began rummaging through his bag of memories.

"Okay, look. We're getting off topic here. YES, I'm a mind reader, but I really need to leave!"

Moon was extremely exasperated at Aven, who kept asking things like "have you ever heard any thoughts that you would rather NOT have heard?" and "what am I thinking about right now?" Olive, on the other talon, was looking sorry that she had said anything about the NightWing's power.

"Okay, okay, I know you need to leave, but just one thing; I was wondering, is-"

"Three moons, Aven, leave her alone!" Mantis swatted her wing with his tail.

Moon pinched the bridge of her snout. "Look. I appreciate the interest and I'm flattered, but I really need to leave." She looked up. "So which way is the exit?"

Cloud pointed to another door in the wall. Looking around, Moon realized that this place had many doors and hallways intersecting with it. "The exit is down that hallway, to the right. You can't miss it. Just-"

"Just what? Is there a problem?" Moon asked.

"Oh, well, ummm..." Olive looked away, but Moon could still hear her. "The snowstorm was expected to cover this whole area in a ton of snow. We're completely sealed off from the rest of Phyrria for a bit. Sorry," she added halfheartedly, as if it were her fault.

Moon looked past her, at the door to the exit. "Well, I guess I can try."

She strode down the corridor, away from the other dragons. They made no attempt to follow her.

Why would they? They already know that they're stuck in here. Why bother seeing if they can get out?

Nevertheless, she still wanted to check. She wanted to just make sure that she had no other choice but to be stuck in this weird building. The wood seemed old but still held its colour and shine. And the hallways seemed to be… slightly curved, almost, as though they were arcing around a central chamber. But if that was true… then she hadn't even walked through one eighth of the place yet.

She came to the door, and noticed that the entrance looked grander than the one she had come in; the doors taller, the hall wider. It was almost like it was some sort of fancy mansion.

She stood at the foot of the door and her gaze travelled up and down its height. It was huge, almost three times her shoulder height. There's no way the snow stacked all the way up there. She smirked and pulled open the door.

Since a huge pile of snow dumped onto her and she attempted to clean it off of her wings without knocking any of the expensive-looking decorations from the small tables on the either side of the hall, she didn't notice a blue-white figure walk past the door and give a quick glance her way. She didn't see him stop and look back, checking to make sure he was seeing things correctly. And she didn't see Winter run back to his room, his mind racing.

Author's Note:

Hello friends!

I've decided that I'll be posting new chapters every Wednesday.

Sometimes I'll be making edits to previous chapters, in which case it'll take longer for the next chapter to come out; i have an aggressive schedule.

Any canon characters' personalities or events I got wrong? Please tell me!

Also I appreciate the comments on the first chapter, it made me happy to read them!

Gonna sleep now.

Thoughtfulll out;)


	3. Chapter 3

"Winter, you should really meet this dragon! She's really nice, and guess what? She's a MIND READER. Her name is-"

"I know her name," Winter interrupted. He didn't care if it was rude for once. He was in a bad mood. "And I know she's a mind reader. I know Moon. Now could you PLEASE leave, I'm trying to get some WORK DONE!"

Aven took a defensive step back. "Okay, sure, but do you want me to, like… give her a tour or something?"

"Yes, yes, sure, I don't care just go!" With that he slammed the door in her face.

 _What's wrong with him?_ Aven thought as she made her way back. _Usually he's cooler than that. I mean, Cloud told me he used to snap all the time and be rude, but I thought he was saying it to have something interesting to say. And if he did and then stopped, why would he start doing it again now? Was it just a coincidence? Has it got something to do with Moon?_

 _And if so, what?_

* * *

"Hey Moon, are you done yet? I need to take you on the grand tour!"

Moon looked up from the bacon that she wasn't eating, just staring at. She still didn't want to believe she was trapped here. _Argh, no, please don't take me on a tour, don't take me anywhere, just leave me alone._ Then another voice spoke in her head. _But Moon, it would be nice to know the place, and it's not like you have anything else to do._

 _Okay, fine, let's do it._

"Okay, I'm coming," she mumbled out. She stood and walked out of the room, trailing Aven. They walked through a doorway with no door(oddly enough, only the way to the entrance hall had a door, the rest were just arches) and came to a huge circular room. A fire crackled in a fireplace on the wall, and low tables with floor pillows strewn around them were scattered in books built into the walls. The strangest thing, however, was the huge stone spiral cut into the floor of the chamber, filling most of the space and only leaving a tiny ring of wood around the outside. There were detailed engravings on each stone, and Moon studied the ones nearest her as she stood in the centre with Aven.

"So, um, this is our main room," she said. "We kind of use it as an all-purpose thing, but mostly it's just a spare rec room."

Moon was about to ask what the carvings were for, but Aven dragged her through another doorway before she could speak.

"Alright, so we're in the main part of the building now. This is usually where everyone does all their work, plus it's got the kitchens and the forge. So," she said turning to Moon. "Wanna go right and work your way around the place that way, or left and back around the other way?"

"Which would you recommend?"

Aven thought for a moment. "Left it is!"

As they walked, she gave a brief history of the place. "So this place was apparently built by a really rich and eccentric SandWing and IceWing hybrid who wanted to be near both places or something. It had been abandoned for centuries! Then we got it, but there is still so much of the place that nobody has seen yet! Olive and I like exploring sometimes. You should come!"

Moon had gotten over her immediate bad mood at not being able to leave. "So why are all of you here, anyway? There's no way you just all live here together, so what is this place for?"

Aven looked at her with confusion. "Oh, ya, I guess I never did mention that," it was then that they turned the corner and came to a hallway with large floor-to-ceiling windows, facing into a huge enclosure carpeted by grass. Trees and shrubs dotted the area, punctuated by a medium-sized pool with a bridge over it. The ceiling, high above, was a huge glass dome and there was a large cave set off into the other side of the wall. But the most interesting things were the scavengers.

They walked and ran around, some sat in groups and the small ones played with an arrangement of small rods set into the ground.

"Three moons," exclaimed Moon.

"Ya, it's pretty cool, isn't it?" Asked Aven. "Welcome to the Inter-Tribe Scavenger Research Sanctuary. We usually call it the ITSRS."

Moon gave her an odd look.

"Kidding. It's the Sanctuary." Aven grinned, then was suddenly serious. "DON'T eat the scavengers. Got it?"

Moon wondered if she was joking again, but her mind seemed completely serious.

"I… wasn't going to?"

"Okay, good." Aven sat back on her haunches, and turned back into the hallway. "Okay, so basically the entire other bit is this, scavengers running around. Except here!"

She suddenly opened a door on the other side of the hall and led Moon into a huge kitchen. Knives gleamed beside pots, and every manner of cooking utensil was present.

"Oi, Tint! Ya there?"

"Shit!"

An reddish-orangey-tinted MudWing stepped out from behind a corner, his right forefoot bleeding. "What the hell?" He asked. "You made me cut my talon!"

"Oh, uh, sorry," said Aven. "Anyway this is Moon! Moon, Tint."

"Ummm… Hey." Tried Moon.

"Okay, great. Can you guys leave now? I'm kinda busy."

Moon studied him closely. He was also wearing skyfire jewelry, an earring set with the small stones.

 _Where does everyone keep getting this stuff from?_ Thought Moon. _It doesn't exactly grow on trees._

"Okay. Come on, Moon," Aven said, propelling the NightWing foreword with her wing. "I'm gonna show you the forge, and then I need to work. You can hang out with Olive, she's got a day off today."

 _Kinda stupid that she gets a day off today of all days, if you ask me,_ muttered Aven's mind. _We literally have a break tomorrow._

The forge turned out to be built on a stone slab down a slight staircase, featuring a fireplace with a bellows and a wide assortment of tools. Pushed against the wall there was also a jeweler's table, with fine tools and a jeweler's loupe.

"Mantis makes stuff here," explained Aven. "Like, stuff like jewelry and amour and stuff."

Moon shot her a sidelong glance and smirked. "Does he make stuff here as well? How about weapons and tools and stuff? does he make that stuff too?"

"I-... shut up." Aven grinned. She then looked at the clock. "And that concludes our tour because I want to eat before my mom enlists my help and works my ass off, so come on!"

As they rushed back to the room with the spiral, Aven saw Moon eyeing the other hallways. "Those just lead off to other scavengers' enclosures, or places we haven't been yet." As they arrived back, Moon suddenly thought of something. She was staying here for a while, so where was she supposed to sleep? Was it back where she had woken up? She voiced her question to Aven.

"Nope. You'll be sharing a room with Olive and I," answered Aven. "Isn't that great?" She was silent for a second, then spoke again. "Well, we technically aren't sharing a ROOM… there are three separate rooms that open up to a big chamber, THEN you go out into the hall, so, again, we aren't technically sharing a room."

"Which… way is it?"

"Oh, of course, follow me. Your stuff is already there." Aven took her down a hall then opened the door and ushered Moon inside.

"Okay, see you later!" Moon watched the hybrid's retreating form before turning and looking around her new home for the first time.

It was similar to the room with the spiral, but in half the space with twice the stuff. In every corner there were armchairs and pillows, as well as empty food plates with crumbs and scrolls scattered on tables. This place was different, it looked lived in. Moon had taken a couple steps inside when a voice in the corner said "Oh, hey."

Moon looked over at Olive's sandy-colored form draped across a chair in a corner. "Hi, Olive," said Moon.

 _Argh this is so awkward why is it so awkward!_ Yelled the SandWing's mind. _Oh moons the silence is lasting too long crap say something say something-_

"Sooo… want to… play… chess?" She croaked out.

"Uh, sure."

 _Oh, great job, Olive! Now you've gone and made it more awkward than it was before!_

"So… I guess I'll be staying here awhile," Moon tried, hoping to start a conversation. "And, um, ya! Let's play chess!"

"What's it like having mind reading?" Olive asked as she set up the white pieces.

"It's… definitely annoying at times, but I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Is there any way to…"

"Stop me from hearing your thoughts?" Moon finished.

Olive nodded. "I… please don't ever do that again."

Moon winced. She was almost always among dragons who she either knew and who had skyfire, or the ones who she saw in public and probably wouldn't see again. She wasn't used to the kind of thing that had just occurred happening to her very often, but now that she thought about it, it would be horrible for a dragon to hear her thoughts.

A silence passed as Olive finished placing the white pieces in their positions. "So is there any way at all to block your powers?"

Moon thought for a moment. _There's no way they have anymore skyfire anymore, and I don't think Mantis or- what was his name? Oh, ya, Tint- can share because they only have one stone for each of them. Why couldnt they be like Turtle? Turtle always had an answer to a problem._

"There is one, but- I don't think it's accessible here," Moon said.

"Well that sucks," said Olive, picking up a black pawn.

Moon gasped as the SandWing's mind went silent.

"Scratch that. There's a way." Moon smiled.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Whew! Another chapter out JUST before the bell. I'm proud to say I've stuck to my deadlines thus far!

Also this chapter is much longer than the others by like 500 words so maybe that's why? Also I changed Ch. 2 up a little to better suit my purposes.

As usual, any canon events, personalities, etc. that I got wrong? Any criticism? Please let me know!

Also it's Christmas Thanksgiving is a joke plus I'm Canadian so I had thanksgiving in October

Have a great day/night , and thanks for reading!

Thoughtfull out;)


	4. Chapter 4

_Argh what the hell do I do now? Can I just avoid her? For three weeks? No! Crap! How do I deal with this?! What can I do?_

Winter lay on his bed, alternating between looking at the ceiling and burying his face into the pillow.

 _I hate this. Why can't I just go- but then again-_

 _Come on, Winter,_ a new voice suddenly said. _She's only an old friend now. Nothing to worry about._

 _Easy to think about, harder to do. I don't know what she'll think of me now! What if she hasn't forgiven me for being such an awful dragon? What if she thinks I'm still in love with her? I bet she does, just because she can read minds._

He suddenly sat up. _No!_ He thought. _I can't think like that anymore! I promised I'd be better than that. Those thoughts are the exact reason she wouldn't want to see me!_

 _I am better than that._

A calm swept over him, though a prickle of… something still crept on the edges of his mind. He surveyed the small room he slept in.

"If I'm going to stay here, I should at least get some work done," he reasoned aloud. He opened the door and treaded softly to his notebook, right where he had left it earlier. He picked up his quill, but stopped and put it down again. He walked to his bag and opened it for the second time today. Strapping on his silver bracelet, he walked back to the desk as he admired the black skyfire Turtle had given him, set into Hailstorm's gift of the silver jewelry.

 _There. Now I'm safe. I'm protected._

 _Nothing to worry about at all._

 _I hope…_

* * *

"So these things stop your telepathy?"

Olive held a black pawn up to her green eyes and examined the polished black rock. "I've always thought this stuff was odd. Look, there aren't any speckles, or any veins in the rock. Same with these," She gestured to the other pieces in the set. "That's not a quality that normal stone possesses."

Moon nodded from across the small table. "It's called skyfire. It's really rare. In fact…" How had all these dragons gotten so much of it? It wasn't easy to find; in fact the only place she knew of where the stuff could be found was that island in the Bay of a Thousand Scales where Turtle has first discovered it, and fashioned a bracelet from it. Had they all gone there just to get some?

"...how did you get it? Mantis and Tint also have some, and now you have a whole chess set! It's so hard to find, I only know of one place to find it and I don't even know the exact location. Where did this stuff come from?"

Olive tilted her head in confusion. "Skyfire?" She looked thoughtful for a moment, then continued. "Never heard of it. I always just thought this was some sort of obsidian." She looked up at Moon. "Oh, ya, your question. Aven and I found it about six months ago. There was this loose board and we pulled it back and there was a big hunk of it. So we got Rose and Cloud and they pulled it out with us, but we didn't really know what to do with it. And then Mantis said he'd take it and make stuff with it, and he made Aven and I this set as a thank-you, though I usually don't get to play because Aven hates the game."

"How did it get there? Aven said that this place has been built for hundreds of years!"

"Over seven hundred, actually. I think the rock's been there even longer. I had a theory about how the foundations of this place were made that included skyfire, but I tested it and it wasn't true. I thought that bit had been a piece of a larger meteorite that broke off."

"How would that have to do with the foundations?"

"Well, the thing is, this place has a huge strip of deep basement running down the middle, and basically none on the sides. So I thought that maybe-"

"Yes?" Moon asked.

"Nevermind." She looked at the chessboard, avoiding Moon's gaze. "It was stupid anyway."

Moon got the feeling she shouldn't push it. "Okay, then." A silence hung in the air before she finished with "So, are we going to play chess or not?"

"Alright." Olive put the dark-coloured pawn down and picked up a white one. she smiled. "Your move, NightWing."

* * *

 _Well, I guess now I_ have _to go out there._

Winter sat proofreading his final paper of the project he was currently doing for the fourth time, though he already knew he had made no errors. His stomach growled.

 _I'll just get food,_ he thought. _Then I won't have to see her._

 _Argh, no, she'll come to the dining room RIGHT when I'm there! I guarantee it!_

He was so busy having his mental argument, weighing one option with the other, that he didn't notice the ruby-red form of his friend walk in.

"Winter?"

The IceWing spun and came face-to-face with Cloud's concerned eyes.

"Are you alright? Nobody's seen you all morning."

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, I'm fine," Winter mumbled, avoiding his friend's gaze.

"Don't lie to me. I know when you're upset."

"Ya, I know."

"So what's wrong?"

"I'd- rather not talk about it."

Cloud slumped against the cushions of a big sofa and sized up his friend. Usually, the root of Winter's bad moods were pretty straightforward, and he hardly had them anymore. He decided to just make conversation and the problem would hopefully present itself.

"So, do you want some lunch?"

I'm not really that hungry," Winter mumbled.

Cloud gave a sceptical look, but didn't press further.

"I'm pretty sure everyone has met the NightWing by now," said Cloud. "You should come and say hi to her, at least. I think Aven took her on a tour or something."

Winter felt even more awkward now. His friend had accidentally stumbled into the very problem he was having. He had not actual answer to this, so he decided to just try to avoid answering.

"What's for lunch, anyway?"

"No idea, I guess you could ask Tint. And come eat. I know you're hungry, even though you claim you're not. Why are you acting so oddly? Is it-" Cloud suddenly realized something. "Is it because of that NightWing? Because of Moonwatcher?"

Immediately Cloud knew he had guessed right. Winter's body language had answered the question for him.

"Winter, what past do you have with that dragon?" He demanded. He knew his friend would probably not answer the question, but he wanted to extract the truth first.

"Well…" Winter sounded reluctant, but he was at least talking.

"Yes?"

"Four years ago, I attended Jade Mountain Academy. She was also there, and I kinda… had a huge crush on her. I don't anymore!" He added hastily. "But I did. And she didn't feel the same way. Also, I was angry all the time, and I did some things I'd rather forget."

"So she didn't like you?"

"No, no. We were friends, just… that was it."

"So then why don't you want to see her? She'll be happy to see an old friend."

"Do you know that? Maybe she'll resent me for lashing out and hurting everyone, or judge me for loving her in the past? What if she thinks I still love her?"

"You're going to need to have an awkward chat with her SOMETIME, I mean, you can't just stay here for three weeks. It'll be okay. Just get some food, alright?"

"Fiiine." Winter groaned inwardly. _I'm going to regret this,_ he thought, but his stomach lurched in protest.

"And hey, there's a good chance you won't even bump into her, so why worry?"

 _Ya, why worry?_

 _Hah. Good one._

 **Author's note:**

Another bygone chapter. Whew. The schedule is REALLY aggressive, does anyone think I should make it every OTHER Wednesday? I mean, it would free up my time a lot, but it's really validating and motivational to see the way the visit count spikes on Wednesdays so…

Idk comment what you think ig(or don't)

As always, any grammar, spelling, etc. mistakes or canon personalities I got wrong? Any criticisms that DON'T fall into those categories? Please send them. I read every single comment and I really do try to follow the suggestions I get.

In other news, I hate homework and this is only going to be a mini-series because there is only so much plot you can have in one place without being boring, but don't worry, it will still have plenty of chapters.

I'm free, free as a bird!

Till Thursday at least.

Thoughtfulll out;)


	5. Chapter 5

"And boom, I win."

Olive sat back in her seat, triumphantly grinning at Moon's stunned face.

"No way!" Exclaimed Moon. "I was literally one move away from beating you!"

She grinned. "All part of my master plan, NightWing. My forces are specially trained to dominate yours. Plus, chess was the only thing I could do when I was… uhhh… Nevermind." She touched one of the black pieces she had captured from Moon in a gesture that looked almost coincidental, blocking her powers.

"When you were what?"

"Nothing." Olive avoided her gaze. "It doesn't matter." She looked up. "C'mon, let's get some lunch."

Moon got off the floor pillow she had been sitting on and stretched her wings out. "Sure."

She opened the door and paused. "Wait, let me see if I can remember." She chose a hallway and jerked her head in a questioning gesture to Olive.

The SandWing nodded. "Good memory."

She stood for a second before catching Moon's mischievous smirk. "Hey, you just guessed, didn't you?" She accused.

Moon adopted a expression of mock surprise and indignity. "Pfft. I would never do that!"

"Whatever you say, NightWing."

The two walked and talked right up until they entered the room, revealing a familiar pale blue form sitting in the corner. Moon froze. There, sitting with Cloud, was-

"Winter?!"

* * *

Winter sat stunned for a second but fortunately was given a chance to recover as Olive stage-whispered to Moon.

"Yeah, I went to Jade Mountain with him for a while. He helped us beat Darkstalker. But he left after that."

Moon didn't give the reason he had left, which was fine by Winter. He attempted some form of conversation.

"Uhhh… Hey, Moon."

"Hi, Winter."

The room was silent for a moment again.

"So you… got your Sanctuary up and running. Good job, I guess."

"Yeah. How's- how's Turtle?" He had wanted to say Qibli, but that felt like an odd thing to ask, even now.

"Oh, ya, he's- Umm, he's fine. He's great."

"Great."

Well, this is awkward, thought Winter. I thought it would be all dramatic and stuff but truthfully it's kind of… boring.

"So… I'm going to-"

"Hold up, how did you get here?" Winter had just realized something. "Not many people liked the idea of a place that thinks of scavengers as pets and not food, so this place is secret. Thorn let us use this abandoned mansion on the edges of her territory, but only us, our suppliers and she know where this place is. Are you here to deliver a message or something? How do you find us?"

"I just got lost in the storm. Rose let me in."

"Oh. Okay."

"Ya."

Olive walked through the door connecting the kitchen and returned with two mangoes and two rabbits. She offered one of each to Moon, who accepted them with a nod of thanks.

Winter waited for her to say more, but she ate in silence. He decided he'd try to initiate conversation one more time.

"So-"

"Moon! Olive! There you guys are!"

Aven came bounding down the hall, almost tumbling into Olive. "Mom let me go! Which is totally not like her…" she looked up and tilted her head for a second, then launched back into conversation. "So anyway, now we can hang out or something. Oh!" She looked over at Winter. "You're up! Nice. Moon, this is our founder and fearless leader, Win-"

"I know him." Moon interrupted. "We went to school together." She started to slice open her mango, having finished the rabbit.

"Three moons, that is SO COOL! Where did you go? Jade Mountain? That really strict place those MudWings run?"

"That's the MudWing Templar, Aven, and it's not a school," supplied Cloud.

"Okay, whatever." She sat for a moment in silence. "So were you guys, like, dating or something?"

Winter froze and Moon's expression matched exactly how he felt about her question.

"Well…we...uhhhh…"

"We...erm...weren't…"

Moon and Winter looked at each other and tried to avoid Aven's prying eyes.

"I'm not hearing a noo-ooh," sang Aven in a singsong voice.

"No!" Moon yelled. "Ahem. No, we weren't dating. Ever."

Aven gave a skeptical look. "Are you suuuure?"

"Aven, lay off," said Olive.

"It's… fine," said Moon. "I'm going to go…explore a bit. See you guys later."

Winter got up. "I'm going back to my room. I need to finish up some work."

He left the room, though he could feel all eyes on his back.

 _Wow, that went well._

* * *

Moon wasn't really sure what to think of all this.

As she neared the hallway to Aven's and Olive's room, her room, she told herself, but turned away to wander the halls. She needed time to think.

 _Well, I can be rational. I'm stuck here; that's a given. I'm stuck with the guy who loves me. Or used to love me, I don't even know. How do I feel about that? I… have no idea._

She peered through a door on her right and looked into a large room with a low ceiling and tons of game tables.

 _It's not like it's any different than before, right? We're just friends._

The next room held huge supply cabinets and drawers. One was opened and stuffed full of files. Pushed into the corner was a very messy desk.

 _Argh, I hate how awkward this is. I hope we'll get over it. I hope we can put whatever wrongs happened in the past behind us._

She came to a larger set of double doors and tried the handles, but they were locked. She threw her weight against it, but it didn't give. As Moon prepared to heave on the door for a second time, a voice called out to her.

"It is useless."

She turned to behold an unrecognizable light-purple SilkWing. She tilted her head.

"Who are you? Aven didn't mention you. Though she didn't mention Winter either, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised-" she cleared her throat. "Anyway, who are you?"

"Yes, Aven has tried that door. We all have. It remains locked. Even the combined efforts of Rose and Tint, the two most physically gifted here, were futile."

"Yes, but who are you?"

He looked down at her. "I am Hone of the SilkWings. How are you feeling, Moonwatcher?"

Moon was starting to get freaked out by this guy. She could not penetrate his mind, even though he was wearing no visible skyfire. His mind wasn't sharp and prickly like the other dragons who had mental shields, either. It was as if his mind didn't exist. Only a faint whirring noise emanating from his general direction assured her that he wasn't a construct an animus had created.

"How do you know my name? And how did you find me out here?"

He took a deep breath.

"From another hallway, I heard Aven's voice call out the name 'moon'. Since she cannot talk to any of the three moons, I inferred that she was speaking to a NightWing, as no other tribe would name their spawn 'moon'. I had heard that a NightWing had been lost in the storm earlier, so I was unsurprised by this. Since NightWings with monosyllabic names are almost legendary in the extent of their rarity, I decided that the word 'moon' wasn't your whole name, but in fact the first syllable. I didn't know what, however, until I saw your eyes. Big and bright, and since you have silver scales around them, I presume you were hatched watching the moon. Thus, Moonwatcher. As for how you got here, nobody works this far out from the main sanctuary area, and dragons make talon prints in the dust. Since nothing is past the filing room, I assumed that any footprints would be your exploration of the Sanctuary."

Moon was mildly stunned by his use of deduction but was more interested in his mind shield. "How do you do that? Your manual shield is unlike any I've ever witnessed."

"Truthfully, I have no idea," he admitted. "It might be linked to my childhood, however. I have little to no recollection of the early days of my life."

"Really? What's the first thing you remember?"

"Apologies, but I have work to do. Talk to you later." His voice came from almost around the corner, though Moon hadn't seen him move. She sped up to catch up to the strange dragon, but when she turned the corner herself, he was gone.

 **Author's note:**

Sigh. Sorry this is late.

Anyway, I finally got to introduce my favorite character! What do you guys think of him?

Ummm also that was not the most dramatic exchange Moon and Winter will ever have, btw. Probably the least. Just saying.

I promise next week will be on time, even if I have to tell my Social Studies teacher I had a funeral to go to and that's why I didn't do my homework.

Remember the meeting from the old Chapter 3? (Or two or four I can't remember, but I took it out when I made edits) it's coming back… but obviously a little modded.

Want to apologize again for being late. It was partially due to school and partially because I got Destiny 2 on PC and I've basically wasted my life for a week playing it now. (If anyone wants to play with me, pm me bc I'm lonely bc nobody else plays it who I know and I need groups to do a raid)

As usual, any criticisms, suggestions, blah blah, put them into the comments.


	6. Chapter 6

"Winter, you knew it was going to be awkward. 'Course, I didn't think it would be _that_ awkward, but that was Aven's fault."

"You're probably right."

Cloud sat across from Winter at his small sitting area. Winter looked less depressed and panicky, but he still looked like he hadn't slept well, or had been chased by a herd of elephants and barely escaped.

"You just need to clear the air with her, I think." Cloud really had no clue what he would do if he were in this situation, but pWinter seemed to agree with it. He supposed it wasn't _bad_ advice, but it definitely wasn't what Cloud would do. Cloud actually would probably have left some kind of apology note, or perhaps move to Pantala; he wasn't sure. However, he knew that saying those things would just discourage Winter.

"Ya, ya. Well, I guess first I'd better…" he gestured to his desk, which was still super messy.

"Ya. Speaking of work…" Cloud trailed off as he thought of all the work he still had to do. _...deliver those files to Ash, pick more files up from Hone, I'll probably need to force Mantis to do his work, and… ohshitIforgotto help Rose with recording her study's findings!_

"Dammit, I just realized, I have to go!" Cloud got up and headed for the door. "Good luck!" He called to Winter, who just nodded.

 _Good luck for what?_ Cloud asked himself as he left. _Cleaning up his papers? He's done his project already._ He sighed inwardly. _I just need to go do my own work. I'll worry about him later._

He rushed past Mantis' room and his own, then dashed down the stairs and towards the area where Rose worked.

* * *

"Sorry about earlier."

"Hmm?" Moon looked over her scroll at Olive, who sat across the room. "Sorry for what?"

"Down at the dining room… you know, that thing with Winter?"

Moon tilted her head. "That wasn't your fault! If anything, it was Aven's. She's the one who was making it weird."

"Ya, but I totally should have stopped her. It was clear you were uncomfortable."

"Hey, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Argh. Are you sure? I really feel like I should have-"

"I'm fine! Sheesh."

"Okay. Sorry."

An uneasy silence hung for a moment. Finally, Olive broke the silence. "Why _were_ you so uncomfortable? You know, if you weren't, actually…" she trailed off, but Moon could hear the word _dating_ echoing in her mind.

Olive must have seen something in Moon's expression because she immediately tried to redact the question.

"Oh-oh-oh sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine. You'll end up finding out anyway."

"Oh, wait, first…" she ran into her room and emerged a moment later, carrying a small black rock.

"I asked Mantis for it," she explained. "I hope you don't mind."

 _Oh, that's where she went._ Olive hadn't come back for far longer than Moon had thought it would take her to eat. Now she knew why.

"It's okay, I understand. One question though: how could you tell I was mind reader? I thought that knowledge has been lost for centuries."

"Have you heard of Jerboa's Library?" Asked Olive.

"Mhm." Jerboa's Library had been discovered about two years ago, in the middle of the SandWing desert. It had been a legendary building thought by many to be only that, a legend. As it was, it had been nearly buried by the sand. Only the spire of the highest and grandest dome was showing, and it had only been discovered because one of the dragons flying over had recognised the design from a drawing he had seen. Almost every scroll written was there. However, the place was rumoured to be cursed so that those only seeking knowledge in order to learn and not do harm would get in.

"I made the journey there a few years ago. It's hard to find your way around that place; it's just hallways with no end. I'm pretty sure I even saw a skeleton once."

"That's impressive. That's- wow. That's impressive." Almost all dragons who tried to get into it, died in some kind of accident. Thus the rumours. To get into it was considered extremely impressive.

 _Olive has hidden depths. Or at least good intentions. And extreme luck._

"It's not that big of a deal."

"Are you kidding? It's amazing!"

"I don't mean to brag…"

"That is definitely something worth bragging about."

"Okay, well the point is, I read that NightWings with silver scales next to their eyes have either future sight or mind reading. Since you have both, that guarantees you have the ability to read minds."

Just then, Aven burst into the room.

"Hey guys!" She shouted as she ran past. She practically flew into her room and emerged a moment later, clutching something in her talons. "Sorry, can't talk, gotta run!"

Olive and Moon sat, stunned, as she left as quickly as she had come. Olive spoke up.

"I...should probably...y'know…"

"Okay, sure. See you later!"

"Yeah! Bye." Came the beige shape of the dragon, already disappearing behind the door.

* * *

 _Done! Finally._

Winter regarded the stack of paper that he had been working on for months. It was finally finished.

 _Now I need to deliver this to Hone._

Winter hadn't liked Hone when they had first met; the way he could always tell what was going on in your mind was unnerving and his overall demeanour gave Winter a feeling like he was being considered inferior. Now, he tolerated Hone, but he still didn't like when the SilkWing guessed his thoughts.

 _Guess this means we've got two mind readers walking around now._ He smirked.

He reflected on the day's events so far as he walked. _I should be acting more professional. We need to decide what to do now. What to do with her. She isn't a stranger to me, but she definitely is to everyone else._

He had mostly calmed down since his and Moon's awkward conversation; working seemed to do that to him.

 _Ya. What_ are _we going to do with her? The break won't be here forever. I need to talk to Aven about this._

He had reached Hone's room now, so he dropped the package on the small table beside the door. Hone, sitting facing away from the wall, gave a gesture of acknowledgement. Winter turned and left the room. There was another place he had to go.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

Writing this was pain lemme tell ya

Anyway it's winter break peeps! We made it! Also the sequel to Healed came out so everyone go look at that.

Oh and btw I just wanted to say this now: most of the writing I do in my phone and I only use the computer to upload the chapters. That might be why I just post a review instead of commenting. Don't worry I still care. Do y'all even notice a difference? Tell me.

I had something else to say but I forgot it rip

Any criticisms, blah blah you know the drill.

Thoughtfulll out;)


	7. Chapter 7

"Okay, so who, we exactly, do you need again?"

"Ummm, Cloud, definitely. Rose. Mantis. Oh, and Glimmer and Cascade. Ash and Comet, if they're not busy. Probably Hone, too."

Aven counted the names off on her talons. _So that leaves Tint, Tide, Olive and me. Oh, yeah, and also Moon._ She glanced over at Winter, who had continued talking.

"Just tell them to come after lunch or something, I don't care. I have nothing to do anyway, so…"

"I don't have to come too, do I?"

"I mean, if you want to, you can, but you don't have to-"

"Yes!" Aven pumped her fist and grinned at Winter. "Nothing against you, just…"

"They're boring and a waste of time?"

"Well, I wouldn't say boring, especially if Mantis and Cloud are there, but you get the point. They're- What is the word…"

"Tedious?"

"Ya. That." She stood there for a moment, grasping for something to say Okay, I'm gonna go do that now, and you can get back to your…" she bowed her head, gesturing at his desk. "Stuff."

"Sounds good."

"Oh! One more thing! Where should I tell them to meet you?"

"Anywhere is fine. How about the dining room?"

Aven headed to the door, gave a mock salute, then opened the door and dashed away. "Cya later, boss!"

"Don't call me boss!"

As she jogged down the hall, Aven went through the list Winter had given her. _Okay, so Cloud is right through here, I can hit him first, then mom, then Mantis. And… ummm… Cascade is down in the west wing with Glimmer and Tint, but I don't need Tint, plus he's probably can't oking lunch right now anyway. Then… Hone in the east hallway and Comet and Ashe in the Observatory._

She skidded to a stop in front of Cloud's office and winced at the scratches she had made in the wood.

"Whoops," she muttered, turning to face the door. Her mother's voice echoed in her head. _Don't run in the halls!_

 _Yeah, yeah, whatever mom._ She drew in a breath and yelled: "Oi, Cloud! Winter is holding a meeting in-"

The door slid open and Cloud stared out at her. "There's no need to yell," he chastised her. "I'm right here. Anyway, what is it?"

"Winter's having a meeting in the dining room."

"About what?"

"Moon, I think. Like, wheat do we do with her now, and, umm… anyway you get the point. It's in the dining room."

"Did he say when?"

"He just said after lunch. I dunno. You're eating there anyway, sooo…"

"Alright, thanks, Aven!"

He closed the door and she continued down the hall, coming down the stairs and hanging a hard right to her mother's office. The room, though fairly spacious, looked comically small with the huge RainWing inside it.

"Hiya, mom," Aven called from the doorway before inviting herself in and flopping into the spare chair pushed against the wall. Rose turned around and regarded her with her large orangy eyes.

"Yes, Aven?"

"So, Winter wants you to have a meeting in the dining room after lunch to talk about M- I mean the new NightWing. Also could you ask them if she can stay in our dorm? We've got an extra room set up and everything!" Though she had said Moon could stay with her and Olive, Aven hadn't checked with Winter or anybody else. She assumed it would be fine; there was no reason to say no, but she wanted to be safe.

"I guess I could. Only if she wants to, of course. Have you talked to her about it?"

"Oh sure, Moon's fine with it. Don't worry, mom, we'll make her feel at home."

"Okay. Now I have to get back to work, and you look like you've still got to let a lot of people know about this. I'll see you later, okay, honey?"

"Alright, bye."

She headed out and continued on with her route.

She spent the rest of the morning telling the other staff members Winter had listed, finally coming to an end in the other side of the building with Hone and his piles upon piles of paper and scrolls.

"See ya, Hone!"

He gave only a small wave as Aven walked out and dusted her talons off, finally done her task. It had taken all morning. _Time for lunch, I guess. Everyone who can boss me around will be at Winter's meeting, so I guess I've got the rest of the afternoon off._

 _Now what to do first…_

"As you all probably know by now, there is a NightWing mind reader here who will probably be living here for a while."

Winter sat at the table with most of his crew surrounding him. Cloud was at his right, followed by Mantis, Rose, Ash, (Comet was apparently busy), then Cascade and Glimmer, the SeaWing couple, and finally Hone. Tide sat in the corner of the room, but had his nose buried in a scroll and didn't seem to be paying attention. Tide mostly kept to himself but if you left him alone with a pile of work and came back in an hour, everything would be done and he would still be sitting there reading as though he had never moved.

Mantis was munching on some sort of grilled sandwich, and Tint could be heard banging about in the adjacent kitchen, cleaning up after the midday meal.

"We already know that," a voice complained, dragging Winter from his train of thought. "There's no point in calling this meeting."

"Yeah, maybe we should call it off so you can do your WORK like you're SUPPOSED to!"

Mantis and Cloud glared at each other to Winter's right. He pinched the bridge of his snout.

"Guys, shut up… I mean what we're going to do with her. She's only here for three weeks and she can read minds! We could get information that we never could have before. This is a great chance to dive deeper into how intelligent scavengers really are."

"That is, if mind readers really do exist."

Glimmer crossed her forelegs in front of her. "I'm having trouble believing that these things exist. Sure, there are tons of rumours, but I certainly haven't met anyone who can read my thoughts."

Glimmer and Cascade were the SeaWind couple who had joined the roster of the Sanctuary a mere two or three months ago, the latest additions. Glimmer was very lithe and a light blue colour, and Cascade was pale pink.

"I'm willing to believe it," interjected Cascade. "And I agree with Winter, it would be exceedingly interesting to gather data from one with her talents."

"I think we should do it," said Cloud from beside him. "She's here anyway. Why not put her to work?"

"I'm okay with it as long as she agrees to do it," concluded Rose. "We can't force her, but I'm sure she'll be happy to help."

"Okay! We've decided!" Mantis burst out. "Can I go now?"

"Nope. Who the hell's gonna do it?" Ash asked. "I know I'm not quitting my project, mind reader or not."

"Agreed," said Rose. "Surely somebody can switch, though. Is anyone done their project, or almost done?"

Cloud mumbled something about how Mantis would be done if he did his work, to which Mantis began to reply "What was that?!" But was silenced by Rose's glare.

"Comet is, I believe," said Hone in his soft voice. "I have not received any files or scrolls stating that she has started another project."

"She has. She's about a week into it, we just haven't gotten around to giving them to you. Sorry about that." Said Ash.

"I forgive you."

Winter sighed. "Is anyone ACTUALLY done their studies?"

Everyone was silent. Cascade coughed.

"Winter… aren't you ready to do another study?"

Glimmer tilted her head at him. "If all this is true…which seems to be, or at least has you convinced, then couldn't you do it?"

"Oh, hey, yeah. That will work."

"Alright. Winter, can you do it?"

Winter grimaced inwardly. He knew if he said no, it would just lead to more questions and more questions. But the truth was… he wasn't sure if he was ready to take on a partnership with Moon.

"Okay, sure."

Winter flashed a confident smile, attempting to convince himself just as much as everyone else. His team had made up their mind.

And there was little you could do once that happened.

"That's decided. Can I leave now?"

 **Author's Note:**

Sorry about the wonky update schedule, I'll try to get it back on track!

When you think you posted it but you didn't actually hit upload

But I got it out now! So yeah.

Nothing really to say. Manhattan was really crowded. Hah.

Any criticisms, blah blah the usual and such. Have a good day/night, I hope you enjoyed.

Thoughtfulll out;)


	8. Chapter 8

"Hey, uh, Mantis?"

Olive stood on the edge of the break room and gestured to Mantis, who was sitting with a plate of those weird crackers he got imported from Pantala. Olive had tried one once; it hadn't been _horrible_ , but she definitely wouldn't want to eat them on a regular basis. Mantis seemed to like them, though. Maybe it was a HiveWing thing. Anyway, she gestured for him to come over to her.

Mantis glanced around then followed her out into the hall.

"What is it? And make it quick," said Mantis once he finally arrived. "I don't have all day."

 _Yes, actually, you_ do _in fact have all day,_ thought Olive. _But whatever._

"Okay, look, I need to you make me something with sk- with those black rocks."

"Make what?"

"Bracelet, earring, don't care. Just make me something. I can pay you if you want."

"Yeah, alright, fine. But what metals do you want? Is there a particular theme you have in mind? Should I-"

"Just surprise me." Olive said. "Be creative."

"Okay. Alright." Mantis said. "Anything else? Or did you just want to ask that?"

"Just that. Thanks, Mantis." Olive turned and walked off in the direction of her room. Mantis returned to his crackers.

* * *

Moon sat reading a scroll in the library. She considered herself pretty well-read, but a lot of the scrolls in this library she had yet to have even heard of. There were scrolls dating back thousands of years, some even coming from before the Scorching. They were still in pristine condition and she was very excited to read them all.

"Moon, may I see you in my office for a moment?"

Rose had entered through one of the s

* * *

ide doors to the library. She stretched out on a beanbag chair across from Moon. "Or, alternatively, we could go here."

"I don't mind," said Moon, rolling her scroll up and shoving it in her bag, telling herself she would finish it later. "Here is fine. Or there."

"I'm already here." Rose gave a small smile at her. "Anyway… You are aware that you'll be staying awhile, correct?"

Moon cringed as she thought of Queen Thorn waiting for her, and hoped she could figure out where Moon had gone. She hoped she wasn't worrying Kinkajou or Turtle or Sunny or any of the others. She wished she could tell them that she was okay. She then looked up and realized Rose was staring at her, awaiting a response.

"O-oh ya! Ahem, yes."

"Right. Now, the team and I were hoping that maybe you could work for us while you're here, to provide some unique insight, what with all your mind reading and stuff."

"So you're offering me a-"

"Job. More of an internship, really. You would be paid in full for the duration of your stay. If not, we're more than happy to give you room and board until the storm settles."

Moon thought about it for a moment. Sure, it would be nice to sit here for a month until the storm lifted, but she really did want to work with the scavengers and learn more about how things were run here. _Besides, why not?_ She thought to herself. _I'm here anyway._

"Okay, sure. Is there a training or instruction manual or...?" She trailed off and let the question hang in the air.

"Oh, don't worry, Aven will show you the ropes during the break so you can jump right in once it's over," said Rose. _Aven probably won't be glad about missing her break,_ Moon heard Rose think. _Explaining that to her should be fun._

"Oh, also, there's another thing."

Moon tilted her head with interest. "Yes?"

"Where would you like to be sleeping? We could set you up in one of the guest rooms, or with Aven and Olive. Aven requested that, so I'm giving you the choice."

"Oh." Moon hadn't been aware that there _was_ a choice. She was sure Aven had said that that was where she was sleeping. Did Rose know about that? Or was it just another thing she had done without thinking?

 _I think I'm seeing a bit of a theme,_ thought Moon. Either way, though, she was more than happy to stay with Olive and Aven, and she relayed that to Rose.

"Okay then." Rose made a note in her scroll and stood. "That's everything. Hope it wasn't too much trouble."

"Oh, don't worry! It was nothing!"

"So if I wanna talk to you, I can just think the words, right? I don't actually have to say them?"

"I mean, I guess? I haven't really tried it. Most of my friends back home had preferred me to not read their minds."

Moon and Aven sat a little ways away from each other, with a few other dragons scattered around them in the common room, or lounge, or whatever it was called. Moon had noticed that there wasn't a fixed name for it; it was just the hangout room. The mood was generally pretty lazy as the work day was over and the break was officially on.

"Okay, let me test it…" Aven then thought: _Testing, testing. Hello, Moon? Anybody in there?_

"I can hear you," said Moon. "Though I'd much rather you speak to me with words. Reading you makes me feel like I'm intruding."

"Hey, NightWing, don't worry about it! I've got nothing to hide, and I know I can trust you to keep my secrets." _Besides, it's nice to be able to speak without opening my mouth,_ she thought.

"It's not a good idea."

"Why not?"

"I'd just rather you talk to me. Please."

"Fine. I just don't see why-"

"C'mon. I just don't want you to do that."

"Okay, compromise. I won't do that _unless_ there's no other way to talk to you. Deal?"

"Deal," said Moon. She could live with that, she supposed. It wasn't that she didn't want to afford Aven the easier way of speaking, she just didn't like the feeling of intruding. And since she would be listening all the time, she might pick up on some things she might not have wanted to hear. Besides, she preferred actual speaking.

"So umm… what is your job here, exactly? I mean yeah you run around and do stuff but what is your actual job?"

"Oh, well _technically_ I'm a secretary, but really people just drag me around and tell me what to do. What about you? What were you doing before you got caught here?"

"I'm in my last year of university. I'm studying to be a teacher. I was travelling along the Ice Kingdom border because I was supposed to meet up with Queen Thorn and help her and the Outclaws set up another city to help accommodate the rising populations."

"That sounds boring. And complicated. Also are your teachers okay with you running off and spending a huge chunk of time off in the Sand Kingdom?"

"Oh, no, it's- I'm on a break right now. Yeah I wouldn't just up and leave. Speaking of which, I hope I get out of here soon enough to be back…" She stared at the hallway that eventually led to the door for a moment.

"So what's that door that nobody can open? Have you got any clues as to its purpose?"

"Nope. Like you said, we can't open it. I've given up trying. It's, like, super stuck. I think it's caved in on the other side."

"Maybe…"

Moon trailed off. The conversation had come to a standstill. In a feeble attempt to start it up again, she said:

"So… I'll be working here for a bit…" she looked over to find that Aven had stood up, she caught Moon's gaze and grinned. "Just getting a snack," she explained. "And yes, I heard about that. You'll be working with Winter, so, y'know. Have fun with that."

Moon processed that for a second. "Wait… What?"

But Aven was too far away to hear.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I am so so so so so so so sorry for how late this is.

Here's my lame list of excuses:

three tests

Trying to get into an rp group run by my idol so I'm doing the ref for that(still not done) and spending extra time on his backstory and ref because it's my idol

Not happy with writing style so I'm tryna change it

Still grinding to level 600 in Destiny 2(you might not know what that means but trust me, it's annoying)

The list goes on

But it's still my fault hhhhh

Can't guarantee that I'll get the next one out by next week either. I will continue the series though, I do want to see this through. I'm going to try to make my writing more detailed and longer from now on, but it will probably affect the schedule. I had a really aggressive schedule before, and it didn't produce my best work.

Ack I guess what I'm tryna say is chapters will be longer, or at least better quality, but updates will be less frequent.

Cough happy valentine's day in a week

This is chapter 8, right?

Again, sorry for the wait.

Thoughtfulll out;)


	9. Chapter 9

"Oi, Moon! Wake up!"

"Hurmm?" Moon was shaken awake by an overenthusiastic Aven and had a sudden flashback to Kinkajou. She fluttered her eyes open for a moment to see the hybrid standing over her, then grumbled something about it being too early and rolled over. Usually, Aven would be sleeping in, but today was different. Today they were going exploring.

Moon hadn't really seen the point at first. Hadn't they already seen the extent of the place? How much was there left to explore?

Aven has said that, yes, Moon was right. They had explored most of it, even though they usually didn't have very much time to do so. But Olive had discovered another of the many secret passages in the Sanctuary. "The house is full of secret passageways, we're finding new ones all the time," Aven has said when she had originally announced their outing. "This is just the latest."

Aven was unfazed at Moon's reaction to being woken up. "C'mon, you big lump. We've got things to do!" She tried to drag Moon out of her bed, with Moon ending up half sprawled on the floor and half still in her bed.

Olive looked just as tired as Moon when she finally came out of her room. They both tried to claim couches but Aven flapped her wings and tried to restrain both of them at once. "Nope! Nope! C'mon, we're getting breakfast! No more sleeping! You can get a coffee at breakfast if you want." She shooed then towards the door.

Tint was in the kitchen, as usual. He sat writing on a scroll that he had left open on the counter.

"Oi, Tint!"

He looked up and, for once, didn't cut himself. "Oh, hey, guys." He hopped down from the counter and stretched his wings out. by

"Yeah, hi. Could we get breakfast? I know it's a little early. "

"Breakfast? I mean, you could look in the pantry or something. I do have coffee, though, which it looks like you'll need," he said, casting his gaze over Moon and Olive's tired expressions.

"I'd really appreciate that, thanks," said Olive.

While Moon and Olive retrieved their coffee, Aven charged into the pantry and came out a moment later with the leftovers of yesterday's cows.

"Here we go! Just gotta divide this up into three…"

She lazily grabbed a knife and prepared to slice the meat but Tint grabbed her wrist and took the knife out of her hand, holding it up for her to see.

"Do you know what this is?" He asked in a casual voice, to which Aven replied "No…" Tint thrust the knife back onto the counter where Aven had grabbed it. "That is a fish knife. Have you ever seen a cow swim? Because I sincerely fucking hope not! Also, this knife came from the "to be washed" pile! As in it's contaminated!"

"Is he always like this?" Moon murmured to Olive.

"No, he's actually really nice." Moon suddenly noticed that she had been pointedly not thinking about Tint this whole time, but decided not to comment on it. She tried to continue listening, but Olive's mind had piqued her interest. However, her blank expression must have given her away because Olive called her out on it.

"It's just that he's got some beef with Aven - hah, beef, get it? No? Moon, are you even listening?"

Moon snapped back to Olive's gaze and sipped her coffee. "Yeah," She said, then adopted a sheepish expression when Olive asked, "you weren't reading my mind again, were you?"

"Yeah, I was," Moon conceded. "But I didn't see anything, I swear. Well, I saw a lot of random stuff, but I didn't see anything about Tint, which I'm assuming was your goal…?"

"Oh. Good."

Olive let her thoughts slip through in her moment of relief to reveal that she had a crush on Tint. Moon didn't react except for a small registration behind her eyes. That wasn't her business and Olive could tell her and Aven or Tint at any time of her choosing, though, come to think of it, telling Aven would probably result in her doing something drastic. Olive put the wall around her mind again, and they both turned their attention back to the original conflict.

Tint had taken the cow away from Aven and was slicing it into three parts, one of which he tossed unceremoniously at Aven, smirking and muttering "oops," when it bounced off her snout and she fumbled to catch it. The other two he just handed to Olive and Moon. Moon examined his dark brown eyes and was again exasperated by the quantities of skyfire that people had. She made a mental nod to ask around, see if anyone knew where it came from.

The leftover beef was good, though cold. Moon felt much more awake and alert when she had finished, though that might have had something to do with the coffee. Aven had grumbled about hers being tampered with, but ate it anyway. They left, Olive bidding Tint goodbye and Aven muttering under her breath. Moon wasn't sure what to think about Tint. He had seemed hostile at first glance, but that could've been because she was with Aven. She wondered what their dispute was.

* * *

"Yeah, see, you can just barely see the outline of the door here and if you look over here, there's a lever that's broken at the handle, which I'm assuming is for the door, and hoping isn't booby-trapped."

"Wait, what?"

Olive grinned and shook her head, indicating to Moon that she was joking. Her, the NightWing and Aven were all crammed around a moderately sized broom cupboard just off the main hallway. She was indicating an indent in the wall near the floor and a small lever that had broken off of an already small lever.

This was Moon's first time exploring, so she could understand not knowing what was happening or even why they enjoyed it so much. She would probably be asking more questions if not for her mind reading, which seemed to be doing most of the heavy lifting. Olive was more comfortable with the idea that her thoughts could be heard than yesterday, but she still shivered whenever she saw that understanding expression and the blank eyes that told her she was being read. Aven didn't seem to mind it, which puzzled her. If you asked Olive, the sooner Mantis finished that accessory he was working on, the better.

Aven had cut in and assured Moon that there was no potential threat as they were secret passages; they were meant to be travelled. Moon seemed to already know this but either way, she wasn't worried. Aven was attempting to pull the lever attached into the wall with little success. The truth was that it had been tiny, to begin with, judging by the space offered in the closet. Since it had broken off, it would be nearly impossible to penetrate the hallway within.

"Looks like the only way to do this would be to use…"

Moon, obviously reading Aven's mind, looked a mixture of worried and intrigued. Olive knew what Aven wanted to do; it wouldn't be pretty, but it was, like she had said, the most viable option. "Fine. But keep. It. Under. Control. Understand?"

"Yeah, Yeah, don't worry, I got it."

Aven, though not born with the environmental elements of either of her parents, the holding of breath or the chameleon-like scales, could spit both her own special concoction of venom and fire or a highly combustible mixture of the two. She had used it only twice before to access secret passages, and Olive liked for her to do it as little as possible as the second time, it had almost resulted in a fire. Luckily, the venom had dissipated before the wood could catch, but it had been close.

Aven took a deep breath in and blew her mixture into the floor of the closet, aiming towards the place where the floor and wall met at the door, and at the wall behind it, where the door seemingly lead. The old wood crackled and snapped, and Moon jumped back a bit with an odd expression on her face. Olive studies her closely. "You okay?" She asked, minor concern in her voice.

Moon tried a smile that looked like a grimace and nodded. She stood upright and gave a more genuine smile. "Yeah, I'm fine, just had a flashback to something for a moment there."

Olive had been keeping an eye on Aven this whole time and noticed that the flames were beginning to abate. "Aven, I think you can give it a little more!" She said, then instantly regretted it as the hybrid blew everything she had at the door and wall, nearly coating the floor in venom. "No! A little bit! I little-"

 _Crash!_

Olive blinked her eyes until the wood dust cleared away from them and beheld the entire section of the hallway had caved into a stone-cut passage below. She glanced back at Moon, who seemed fine except for a shocked look. She peered around for Aven and then peered down into the cave-in, where Aven sat.

"Shit! I got a splinter from this dumb beam! Who the hell even put a beam here?" Aven kicked the offending bit of wood away from her and stood up. "Alright! That was great! Right?" She looked at Olive hopefully.

Olive looked back at Moon, who pinched the bridge of her snout with her talons. She turned back to Aven and rolled her eyes. "Let's just get to exploring."

* * *

 **Author's note:**

Yes it is Ashe the Overwatch hero you're wrong I'm right the story character is Ash not a sponsor I will sue them because they pretty much used the name I came up with

Ayo ya guys this chapter is pivotal to the story as you will see like this is one of the scenes I envisioned while first coming up with the series. Don't worry! You'll get to see what's in there soon enough! For now, I have some stuff to say tho:

#1. Which characters do you ship? It _is_ a romance after all. I do have the ships planned out but I'm interested to see who should end up with who in your eyes.

#2. Apparently, you can reply to comments which I did not know but now I do and I will be replying to you (not a question I know)

#3. It's my birthday! Not today. But very soon so it will be gone by next time I post. So yeah wish me happy birthday.

Also important in March is March break which means no school which means more time to write! Hopefully I'll get more done but no promises on that because I might just play video games or make art (yes, I make art, trust me you don't want to see it it's bad)

Any criticisms, etc, don't hesitate! Even if you just want to say some stupid shit like a lecture of the spores of the echidnores or how many hot dogs you can eat in an hour I love reading comments and I will respond if you aren't a guest, from now on (not responding to past comments unless I did respond, so there)

Honk yeetedy yeetedy yoo the story is picking up trust me

Sorry for making no sense.

Thoughtfulll out;)


	10. Chapter 10

The cave was boring dark wooden planks, giving way to deep blue ice and a whitish rock. The walls and floor appeared to have been dug by some kind of giant worm instead of forming naturally or by the force of a dragon. Small bits of debris littered the ground, touched by age and disturbed only by the three explorers who trudged through it.

"Ugh. Disgusting."

Olive peered through the darkness at the spiderwebs she had accumulated on her front talons, created by the arachnids living here despite the cold. Aven forged ahead with a burning piece of timber she has salvaged from the collapsed floor.

"Are you kidding? This place is amazing!"

Looking around at the jagged cave walls, Moon could agree with either statement. Through the place was old and, yes, a little bit gross and creepy, it had a beautiful and ancient aura interrupted only by Aven's loud thoughts.

"Fine. It IS pretty cool, but you must admit it needs a power-wash."

"No way! It looks good with all this stuff scattered around."

Olive had cleared all the webs off of all but one of her talons, which she flailed in an attempt to dislodge the sticky strands.

"You need to get your brain checked," she murmured.

Meanwhile, Moon had picked up a small bit of parchment and was examining it. It was burned and charred on the edges, and had nothing written on either side save a minute corner of some numeral or character. It was nothing Moon had ever seen, however.

"Hey, guys, have you got any idea what this is?"

Olive, busy scraping her talons against the wall, turned, looked closely at it, then shrugged. Aven was just as helpful.

"Probably a corner of a drawing or something. Doesn't look like any form of writing. Unless it's a code. D'you think it's a code? A code for what? Oooh, maybe it's for when you're, like, on a bad date and you need out so you say the code word loudly at a…"

"For Clearsight's sake, Aven! Nobody cares! Shut up!"

Moon would have been surprised and slightly angry should somebody say that to her, but she had learned by now that that sort of thing was commonplace with these two.

Olive stretched and made to go further into the cave. "It's obviously something that got burnt in a fire or something like that and we can't make it out and it's probably not important anyway so let's not worry about it."

Moon let it fall and it fluttered to the ground as they pressed onwards. Eventually, they reached a place where it curved sharply to the left and narrowed almost to the point of the dragonesses being unable to fit. When Moon finally popped out the other side, she found herself in a cave made entirely from ice.

The three stood on a tiny ledge overlooking a large pool of dark, murky water that was probably frigid. Looking up and slightly to the left of the pool was a higher-up ledge that seemed to expand inwards away from the water's edge. As she examined her surroundings, Moon concluded that Olive, being the smallest, would be the only one able to fly to the other side without scraping her wings on the cave walls.

"Olive, I think-"

"Yeah, I know. I'll go check it out."

She flew over the gap, to come back immediately and gestured at Aven's makeshift torch. "I need that," she said. Wordlessly, the hybrid handed it over and Olive crossed over the pool once again.

She was gone for longer than she should have been- not that Moon was worried, for she could hear Olive's thoughts across the cave, even though she had travelled quite far. The cave seemed to go fairly deep past where the two waited. Aven had even forsaken the action of asking questions across the cave as Olive had long since stopped offering answers. She was too far to hear them, supposedly, though Aven grumbled about how it was probably echoing and that Olive was just trying to be annoying.

Olive's thoughts came at a fairly monotonous frequency and pace until she saw the scavenger.

* * *

Olive had just been thinking how bad it would be to live down here. After the initial shock of seeing a living thing down here, she was slightly more scatterbrained than she would have liked to admit. A sole scavenger dressed in rough clothes sat beside a tiny fire. A pokey stick leaned against the wall beside him as well as a small bag. Olive stepped into his field of vision calmly, with her wings folded and the torch held far away from him.

This would usually make a scavenger feel a little bit safer and was the method she used to put out food for the scavengers without scaring them. It would also hopefully stop them from making erratic and unexpected movements.

The scavenger, however, seemed to above being fooled by such methods and began squeaking wildly as he grabbed his pointy stick. He charged at Olive, brandishing it.

Olive picked the spear up with her two talons and held it up away from the scavenger, who squeaked in protest. "Come on, now, cut it out. Jeez, you could have somebody's eye out with that thing!"

She threw the stick into a corner and picked up the scavenger, still squeaking furiously. Normally, she would leave scavengers the way she had found them; living in the wild. She would have for this one, too, except she was concerned for its safety. There was nothing edible in sight, and as Olive conducted a visual scan of the place, the only other exit was far out of her or the scavenger's reach, being far too small and unreachable from the ground.

Getting the scavenger across the water and back to Aven and Moon was harder than Olive had thought it would be, as the scavenger seemed to have a death wish, squirming and yelling as they tried their hardest to keep him from falling into the water. It was lucky that the two were there as she probably would not have managed it herself.

* * *

On the way back, the three decided that based on the scavenger's behaviour, he probably shouldn't go with the others in the same enclosure. Aven didn't like this plan.

"Putting him in a different enclosure means telling Hone who will then have to tell Cloud and then Cloud will need to run it by Ash or Comet AND he'll have to notify Winter and that whole thing will take, like, an hour and then there's setting the guy up which means getting clothes and shit from the storeroom and-"

"Aven, shut the hell up," Olive said.

"There's a storeroom? Where?" asked Moon. "I didn't see it during Aven's tour, or in the more detailed tour that Cloud gave me after you left."

"It's kinda out of the way. To get there, you need to know the general layout of the place really well or you could get lost. Usually, we send Hone to get stuff from it because, well, he doesn't get lost. He could probably show you, but it's not exactly exciting- it's only a storage room. And all those halls and corridors look the same."

"I still think we should just pop him in with the others and then go eat."

"Aven, we'd still have to tell Cloud even if we did put him in the central enclosure."

Aven sighed loudly, as though she was working with an idiot, and marched forward back to the surface.

* * *

Cloud watched the three- and the scavenger, so, like, three and a half, dragons in front of him as he made notes on his clipboard. This was supposed to have been his break, but he didn't mind working. Working was fun. Well, not fun, but… fine. It was fine. Besides, he still had, what? One and a half weeks?

"Okay, we've got three prepped enclosures, but C1 is reserved, so you've got either B2 or B3. Take your pick," he told them.

They stood in the halls outside of Cloud's room. Winter's lay just down the hall, and beyond that, the

"I don't know the difference," said Moon. Cloud pictured the three in his mind as Avem gave a brief explanation.

"B2 and 3 are near the Observatory with Ash and Comet. The C's are a little beyond that, in the east wing."

"There's an east wing? I didn't know there was an east w-"

"-and that's because it's boring! Seriously, there's nothing down there. You could go see it if you want, but again, it's boring!"

"Aven." the dragoness looked over at Olive, who put her talon on her shoulder. "Chill."

"Fine. Whatever. Just put him in the Observatory."

Cloud nodded and made to put the scavenger's name down on the masterlist when he realized that they hadn't mentioned his name.

"Oh, yeah. What's his name?"

"Wyoming," said Aven immediately.

"Wyoming?" Moon and Olive said in unison. She made a quarter-turn and regarded them. "What? I think it's a cool name. Have you got a better one? 'Cause I'd love to hear it."

"Maybe something to do with caves? We did find him in a cave," Moon offered helpfully.

Cloud grew increasingly confused as they argued back and forth, then pinched the bridge of his snout. "Guys, just choose a damn name."

Eventually, they decided on Zeus, and though Moon and Olive agreed on it, Aven grumbled. Cloud secretly approved of the name as the scavenger looked fierce and definitely could be a Zeus. Moon gave a small smile at his approval and he smiled back, marking the scavenger in with a small flourish.

He pulled the paper off his clipboard and looked around for a place to put it. Realizing he had nowhere, he ran quickly into his room and placed it on his desk. He began to run back out, but skidded to a stop when something caught his eye. There was a form he had been meaning to give Moon to fill out now that she was working with them which he had forgotten to give to her; he had put it on his desk in case he saw her. Now seemed as good a time as any for her to finish it; it wouldn't take long.

"Oi, Moon! C'mere!"

"Coming!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Insert generic excuse for being late here:

bEiNg oN a BrEAk haS tHE uNExsPeCtEd conSeQuEnCE oF Me PrOcRaStInAtInG

also Ive been binging Red as Blue so take what you will but that's why I've been distracted

Spotify has been playing the same ad twice in a row without a song in between and it's annoying as hell…

Next chapter is pivotal to the story, so if I take a little longer it's because I'm bad at capturing feelings in writing and I'm trying to do that. And not mess up the scene. Like I would. And probably will.

It's an important scene is all I'm gonna say but I'll also say it involves Moon and Winter

Any mistakes or criticism you have please let me know and if you haven't already heard I have resolved to reply directly to comments because I round out that you can do that.

*found

Okay bye.

Thoughtfulll out;)


	11. Chapter 11

Cloud's room was surprisingly disorganized, for how organized he seemed. Papers and books were strewn over every available surface save his desk, which was somewhat tidy. A multitude of trinkets lined the shelves and an orange tabby mewed indignantly as Moon walked through the door.

"So if you could just fill that out, that'd be great because it's technically already supposed to be done."

"Okay. Yeah, sure."

Cloud handed her the sheet and gestured towards the desk. "There are pens in the second drawer to the right, and it'll only take like 20 minutes so you can get lunch when you're done. I'll take Aven, Olive and Zeus over to the Observatory and we'll see you later."

"Okay."

"Bye." Cloud jogged out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

It felt weird to be in someone else's room alone. She felt like she was invading Cloud's space. She'd only known him for, what? Three days? Come to think of it, she didn't know anybody here all that well, with the exception of Winter, obviously. And she hadn't seen him in years, he could be a totally different dragon. _Guess I'll find out. I'm here anyway,_ she thought, something she had been repeating in her head far too often lately.

She sat down and stretched her talons out. The form was a pretty standard sort of thing with boxes for information like her name, her age, her position and her tribe, as well as various chunks of text that she had to sign off on.

Moon stretched and looked around the room. The aforementioned cat was now lying on the dresser along with a tiny sculpture of an emerald-green dragon. The scroll rack at the other end of the room was the only thing that was very organized-looking, unlike the one that Olive had back in their rooms.

She kept working on the sheet for a while and didn't look up when somebody opened the door. She didn't look up when this intruder put down the box he had been carrying. She only looked up when he spoke.

* * *

"Moon?"

"Oh, hey, Winter."

Moonwatcher was seated at Cloud's desk doing one of his rediculous worksheets. He stood for a moments, deciding where to sit as that had been _his_ seat up untill about ten minutes ago, apparently.

As much as he wanted to believe that he could live without them, which he could, he missed his old winglet. He missed how Turtle always had a solution to everything, he missed Kinkajou's infinite energy, he missed Moon's cool demeanour. He even missed Qibli's overly annoying slight grin that he got when he figured something out and the brash and, again, annoying, way he spoke. They were his winglet, after all.

Now, they were here in front of him. Well, one was here, not all five. Still, Moon was a window into how their lives had continued without him. He certainly had his own baggage with Moon, but he had gotten over it. Why had he felt so anxious? It was just Moon. He had had countless conversations and interactions with this dragon. It was only in his head where he had built her up, right?

"You got some skyfire."

The statement bolted Winter out of his train of thought. "Yeah, well… I thought since… you know… you're here," he gestured to Moon. "...I should probably protect my thoughts."

"Let me see."

Winter was confused by her request for a moment, then understood that she was indicating his bracelet. He raised his wrist, and when she beckoned for him to come closer, shuffled awkwardly on his remaining three legs.

She looked over the intricately carved silver scales. "Mantis' work, I'd imagine?"

Winter withdrew his claw and examined the tiny silver clasp. "No, it was Hailstorm. He gave me this three years ago on my hatching day. I don't know who, exactly, made it. He had asked to have my skyfire stone, and I guess he used it for the bracelet."

"The same stone Turtle gave you?"

"All those years ago."

"That means yes, right?"

"Yeah."

Moon nodded a few times and returned to her work. Winter smirked. He remembered when Cloud had made him do that sheet. He had finished… most of it. A waste of time, if you asked him. It's not like he was going to demand compensation from his own company.

"So, how's Jade Academy doing?" He asked.

He sank into a chair in the middle of the room and began sorting through the scrolls in the box. It was supposed to have been Aven's job, but Winter had had to do it since she was going to be training Moon.

"It's going well. They have three new winglets to accommodate more students and they've expanded way into the mountain. There's also a ton of new teachers and some extra subjects. I'm pretty sure there'll be an exchange program to Pantala next year, so that will be fun."

"How's the winglet? Other than me, obviously."

"We're all scattered around Phyria, but we stay in touch. Turtle and Kinkajou are dating now, and they're currently staying in the rainforest, though Turtle frequently visits with Queen Coral, at her insistence. It was either that or stay there, so I guess he should be happy. Qibli is back with Thorn and the Outclaws . Oh, also Storm and Tint are dating, which, let's be real, everyone expected."

Winter tilted his head slightly and looked at her questioningly. "Wait, Storm and Tint?"

"Oh! I suppose you don't know who they are. Wow, you've really been off the grid lately."

"I have my share of stories."

"Starflight would love to hear them. Anyway, the year after you left, we got a new IceWing and a new MudWing to replace you and Umber. That was Storm and Tint."

"Cool. Maybe I can meet them sometime. So, umm, how's it going with you and Qibli?"

Though she clearly tried to hide it, Moon visibly stiffened. "We broke up," she said. "We're still friends. It just wasn't working for us."

"When was this?"

"About two weeks ago."

 _That's… really recent. And when did she start out on this trip of hers? One or two days? Three? How did she find this place anyway? She said she was going to some new city, but cities don't just pop up. The Ice Capital took centuries to become what it is today._

So many more things were odd about her story. How far off course would she have to be to come here? She claimed to not know where this place was, but he knew for a fact she had Thorn's trust, and she knew exactly where they were. It didn't make sense.

Then it clicked. And a cold flame began burning behind his eyes.

"I didn't think you'd sink that low."

"Hm?" Moon was finished the sheet "What do you mean?"

"Don't pretend this was by accident. You _meant_ to come here. To find me."

"Winter, I have no idea what you're-"

"You broke up with Qibli. Two weeks later, you came right here. Where I was. What. A. Coincidence."

"That's not-"

"You thought, 'oh, no! Qibli and I broke up! I know! I'll just go and see the person who confessed he had a crush on me four years ago! That should work!" He did an exaggerated falsetto to voice his version of Moon as he stood up. "Well news flash. I'm over you. I sacrificed everything to be with you four years ago. And you know what you said? You said I'd be fine. You said I was strong. So you know what, it's your turn to be strong."

"That is idiotic!" Moon had also stood up and turned around to face him. "My being here was an accident, and if you really believe it wasn't, how would I have found this place?"

"Easy. You were in contact with Thorn. She knows."

"Thorn doesn't give anything that she doesn't have to away!" She protested. "This entire theory of yours is absurd!"

"Right." he said, looking to his right with a skeptical expression tracing his mouth. "You just ended up here _by accident._ Bullshit."

Moon glared at him as she grabbed the paper from the desk, letting her quill fall onto the desk. "You think I wanted to be here? You think I wanted to be stranded in this hovel with its weird caves and weirder dragons? It's clear to me that you haven't changed from the brat I know four years ago, and given that, I'm surprised you don't still love me, not that that feeling would _ever_ be reciprocated."

"Slut," Winter called as she made her way out into the hallway.

"Prick." She countered, slamming the door so hard Winter could have sworn it cracked.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Did you think they would, I don't know, fall in love after that last hint I gave you? Does anyone even read this anymore?

H

Sorry I took twice as long but EMOTIONS ARE HARD TO WRITE OKAY I DID A TERRIBLE JOB BUT AT LEAST WE GOT THIS BIT OUT OF THE WAY SO WE CAN MOVE FORWARD and when I wrote that the first three times it autocorrected to forest that's how my day has been

Happy… idk basically every holiday? Easter

(Hey stage crew when was Easter?)

Just kidding I don't have a stage crew

Please criticize me on this one cause I feel like it could have been a lot better but I'm not sure how

Also I'm gonna go back and check for spelling errors because RandomIceWing told me to :P

Anyway bye

Thoughtfulll out ;)


	12. Chapter 12

"Hey, Olive. C'mere."

Olive was shaken from her scroll and looked over at Mantis, who stood in the shadow of the doorway. She got up and followed him out into the hallway. As she made her way towards him, he began to rummage around inside his pouch.

"Sorry this took me so long," he said, pulling a tiny chain made from a dark metal out of his pouch. "It took me forever to decide what metal to use. I finally decided on dark tungsten because I thought it would go nicely with your scales."

"It was only a few days. For that much time, I'm impressed by the intricacy. How was I going to pay you?"

Mantis held the necklace out to her in one claw. "Nothing. You just owe me a favour. A big one."

Olive rolled her eyes and accepted the dark chain, the coolness of the metal seeping into her talons. She inspected the tiny clasp, then looked at the small charm, inlaid with skyfire and other dark rocks in a swirling pattern. The polished stones reflected the dancing light of the torches on the walls.

"Thanks. It's… nice."

She put it on, finding that it looped around her slender neck multiple times. The charm was not in the middle; it merely rested to the side, almost like an afterthought.

Olive had never really worn jewellery, had never really seen the point of it, but could actually see herself wearing it, not for necessity but for fun. She smirked inwardly. What would Aven say? " _I'm happy you're finallydoing something interesting ,"_ or, more accurately, " _Yeah! Go Olive!"_

She shook herself from her own mind and thanked Mantis before walking away. She was protected now. Her thoughts were her own.

* * *

The few days after Moon's argument with Winter passed fairly normally, if you didn't count how she had even less contact with him than before. Aven taught her things about the scavengers, like how to approach them, what to feed them, and the signs that one was ill or sad. She alternated between professing her devout hatred for Winter's guts and teasing Moon mercilessly about how the two would be working together.

They had only gone exploring once more, but their trip had gone south when they walked in on Ash and Comet kissing. They were super chill about being walked in on, though, and weirdly invited the girls inside for tea as though nothing had been happening.

"Just tell him that that isn't why you're here," said Olive one night about her issue with Winter. "He was probably just caught in the moment. He'll understand how dumb what he said was if you let him know." Aven had agreed, though she added that Winter "has been acting strange lately."

Moon wasn't very inclined to do that, preferring to let him believe his idiotic lies. If she even talked to him, he would think he was right and then never waver from his theory. It was what the old Winter would have done, though the way he was acting was weird, even for him. The rest of the team said that he had gotten much better, but Moon had trouble believing that when he pulled dumb shit like _that._

Instead, she changed the subject, and let those thoughts rest.

* * *

"Okay, so if there's a new scavenger and you can't go inside to feed them for risk of frightening them, Comet designed these handy-dandy slide thingies!" Aven triumphantly pushed open a small trapdoor inlaid in the side of the wall. Through it, Moon could see a dense canopy of trees.

"Couldn't the scavengers just climb through it? They're pretty smart."

Aven cackled and picked up an apple from another station.

"Wait- isn't that Cloud's?" Moon asked.

"It's mine now," she said simply. "Now check this out."

She pushed at the door and it didn't budge. She pushed harder. "See? It won't just open. There's a lock on this side." She slid open the sliders and kicked it open. "Besides, even if the door was unlocked, Zeus wouldn't be able to climb up the waxed chute and bypass the dense tree canopy."

"This is Zeus' enclosure?"

"Yeah, he's being held here alone since we didn't know how he'd react to the other scavengers. I think once he's settled in, Winter wanted to introduce him to one of the scavengers he's been studying. I figured I'd show you the feeder thingie on, you know, a scavenger who could actually use it."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

"Alright, now c'mon! We've got a lot on our plate today, so shake a leg!"

* * *

 _The next day…_

Winter's morning routine remained unchanged as the rest of his staff took advantage of the break. For the rest of them, taking care of the scavengers was still work, though he had faith that his whole crew loved the small, squeaking animals. To him, there was nothing he would rather do. Scavengers fascinated Winter. He and anyone with half a brain could see that they were thoughtful, intelligent creatures and it was his goal to get that fact recognized throughout Phyrria. In fact, even some sort of protection act could be useful.

Cloud and Rose had offered to take the midday and evening duties to feed them, so he was the one stuck getting up early. It was… some form of necessary evil, he supposed.

But, whatever the reason, protection acts or practicality, here he was, feeding the scavengers while everyone else slumbered. He supposed Tint was awake, cooking breakfast. Tint had never needed that much sleep and spent most of his time in the crystal-clean kitchens. It was a mystery to most of them what went on in there, but he always placed food on the table so whatever he did seemed to work.

His rounds were the same as always. The family of five scavengers. The biggest, grandest enclosure with numbers going into the double digits. The scavengers who were singular or paired up in enclosures next to the main one and a group of three. Lastly, the Observatory. The enclosures in the Observatory were reserved for specimens who were sick or injured, new to the Sanctuary or being studied in specific conditions.

 _The enclosures in and around the Observatory, it seems,_ he thought dryly as he neared his final destination, enclosure B2. It was where Zeus was being kept. While usually he would be in the Observatory, a recent outbreak of some sort of flu had occurred and, for the most part, filled it to the brim with sick scavengers. Luckily, Hone was able to devise a cure fairly quickly and the disease itself, though nothing to sneeze at, was not fatal.

He went inside and placed Zeus' food in Comet's device without a second thought. It was only going back out into the hallway that he noticed something strange. The downstairs door where Zeus was first brought in was ajar. He scanned the area of the enclosure. Nothing.

Zeus had escaped.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Some minor spelling and grammar error fixes should be coming to all other chapters after this goes up, (hopefully lmao)

Umm as always did I make a mistake? Leave a comment down below and be sure to hit the bell icon so you can be notified every time a new video goes live!

Actually tho criticize me

Hopefully kob, hallow and shook are reading this rn, hi guys. (Those are my friends btw)

Wonky update schedule, aka I don't post since March. I'm running out of steam here. Sorry, I'm working on it.

Edit:it apparent said exploding instead of exploring, it has been fixed though i found that very funny.

Thoughtfulll out;)

(I can't believe I'm still ending my chapters like that. Do you guys like it? Should I have the face at the end?)


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